And not only so, but we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. We not only have an assured hope; we also glory already in our restoration to peace with God; our mental state is an exultant one even now.
A tacit reference may be supposed to Romans 3:27 and Romans 4:2, where all human glorying was said to be shut out. Yes, this remains true—in ourselves we cannot glory; but in God, who has reconciled us, we can and do.
It is to be observed that neither this nor other passages (such as Romans 8:30, seq.), where an exultant assurance of salvation is expressed, justify the doctrine of assurance, as sometimes understood; viz.
in the sense that an individual believer may and ought to feel certain of his own final salvation, on the ground of having once been justified. The condition of continued faithfulness is all along implied (cf.
, among other texts, 1 Corinthians 9:27; Hebrews 6:4, etc.; Hebrews 10:26, etc.).